In 1996, the party with fewer votes formed government.
In 2001, 58% of the vote produced 98% of the seats.
Proportional representation means seats match votes. Nothing more. Nothing less.
So…how would proportional representation even work? Would your representatives be chosen for you, based on the total number of votes in the province?
Because right now, you vote for a representative in your riding to represent you. One representative per riding. Not 2/3rds of one from one party, and 1/3rd of one from another party. At the end of the day, there’s still just one seat.
So, who gets to choose who occupies those proportionally delegated seats in the legislative assembly, if it’s no longer chosen by each riding?
I get how this works, in theory…but in practice, we would no longer be choosing our own representatives anymore. You’d get proportional representation…but lose the choice of who those representatives are.
So…how would proportional representation even work? Would your representatives be chosen for you, based on the total number of votes in the province?
You’re thinking of the closed party list electoral system. Which isn’t being proposed for Canada.
Proportional representation is a family of voting systems that corresponds to the percentage of the vote.
The 3 systems that are under the pr umbrella are the single transferable vote, mixed-member proportional and party lists.
who gets to choose who occupies those proportionally delegated seats in the legislative assembly, if it’s no longer chosen by each riding?
The single transferable vote groups multiple single member ridings into one like from 1 to 5 representatives. With mixed-member it’s a hybrid between first past the post and party lists, where you get 2 ticks one for your local representative and one for your preferred party.
I get how this works, in theory…but in practice, we would no longer be choosing our own representatives anymore. You’d get proportional representation…but lose the choice of who those representatives are.
Thats not accurate. Since you can rank your candidates on the ballot with stv or chose between your local candidate with mmp.
Thank you. That was a very informative reply.
Glad to help 👍
